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The Odians

Candice hurried towards the Snowpoint City temple, glancing over her shoulder every now and then to make sure she wasn't being followed. It was a rare night; there wasn't any snow falling at all, so the stars above were visible. Candice didn't even spare them a glance; there were far more important things to worry about.

The Temple loomed over the gym leader, its roof high enough to block out the sky. Ancient runes and Braille were carved into the stone blocks that made up the temple. The silence of the night seemed to unnerve Candice, who peered into every shadow as if an assassin waiting for her. Once she was almost at the temple door, Candice tripped over something, half hidden in the snow. She glanced at the object that had caused her to trip, and automatically put one hand over her mouth to muffle her scream.

Maria's face stared back at her, eyes wide open in fright, eyes glazed over and unseeing. Her mouth was open in a silent scream. Her body lay a few metres away. Maria's head had been hacked off. Only then did Candice notice that the snow had been dyed red with blood.

Regaining herself now, Candice scanned the area, looking for Maria's Snover. She found it, lying in the snow next to Maria's body, all the colour drained from it. Candice's jaw tightened, her eyes going teary, thinking of the fate of her Pokemon. They were all dead as well, colourless save for their blood. She had buried them in the snow outside the remains of her gym and then hurried here, to the Temple.

Candice squared her shoulders, and with one last, sad glance at the temple guardian's dead body, she tiptoed inside.

Inside, it was as silent as a tomb. Every now and then, a colourless Pokemon, covered in blood could be seen. They were a clear signal that Candice was too late. She started trembling, knowing that this was indeed true, and that she would probably be as dead as Maria was soon. Still, she didn't turn and run, clinging to one fragile hope that Regigigas had killed the… Odians…

"He doesn't look that mighty now does he?" A high soprano voice said, laughing girlishly.

Two other females laughed with the first. Candice peered around the corner, ready for what she saw, but still it shocked her. Regigigas was lying on the ground, unmoving. The remaining colour left in the legendry Pokemon was being sucked out of its body, leaving as white orbs. This, Candice knew, was its power. The white orbs were flying into a black device around one of the female's neck. Knowing that there was no hope for Regigigas, Candice turned to see the three females.

One couldn't have been any older than 14. She had long blond hair, with pink highlights, falling to her waist. Her hair was held in two ponytails with red ribbons. She had light blue eyes, wide and innocent looking. She didn't look like the type of person who'd go around killing people and Pokemon at all, but the white orbs were coming to her, and Candice had seen her kill her Pokemon. This girl wore a long pink dress with frills and ribbons, and wore a pink snow jacket. On her feet, she had those flimsy looking ballet shoes and long, white warm socks. She surely was the owner of the high soprano voice.

The next was very tall and thin, with pale ice white skin. She held herself in a way that suggested that she thought very highly of herself. Short black hair poked out of her hoddie, and she had blue eyes that screamed â€˜cold and heartless'. She definitely needed to go easy on the mascara. She wore a dark blue hoddie, with pink feathers sticking out on one side. Candice had a funny feeling that those feathers used to belong to a Sneasel. White Snow boots, black snow pants and a white thermal top were flaunted.

The last female seemed to be younger than the ice one, but older than the pink girl. Around 17, 18 maybe. Her long hair was the same shade of purple as her eyes were. She wore a smile that would have been charming if not for the orbs that were in the place of her eyes. She had a dark purple jacket, black thermal pants, a purple dress and black boots.

The one thing all three of them had in common was the black machine around their necks, flickering with green lights. The purple female smiled suddenly, and raised one hand, pointing in the direction of Candice's hiding place. A purple glow surrounded both that hand and Candice. She was brought out into the open, so all three of them could see the gym leader.

"Hullo Candice." The purple one said pleasantly. "We didn't get a chance to introduce ourselves earlier. I am Sophie. The young girl is Emily, and the older one is Yepa."

"You're not entirely welcome here at the moment Candice." Yepa purred. "So we're going to have to deal with you."

The pressure that Sophie was exerting on Candice suddenly intensified, and then her arm bent in an unnatural way. Candice heard it snap before she felt the pain, but when she did, she couldn't help but scream in pain. Yepa laughed darkly, enjoying her pain. Strangely, a wind started blowing, despite the fact that they were inside a temple. Shards of ice cut at Candice's clothes and skin, bringing deep cuts all over her body. Emily rolled her eyes.

"Yepa, if you want to see her suffer, you have to use a more devastating move. Observe!" She cried, holding her hands out.

A glowing white ball of light formed between her hands, getting bigger and bigger as Candice struggled against the pressure that held her in the air. Once Emily seemed satisfied with the size of the ball of light, a beam of light blasted out from it, straight into Candice's heart.

Sophie released her hold on Candice as soon as the light faded and let the corpse fall to the ground. There was a hole right through her heart, going right through her body. Sophie then turned as the same glow surrounded her again. A loud crack was heard as Regigigas's neck snapped in half.

"Now, I say we secure this city first, before going to take over other cities." Sophie, completely fine with the fact that Emily just murdered Candice, and that she'd just killed Regigigas.

Yepa looked slightly worried. "There's 17 of us in total…"

"I'm sure many will join our cause." Emily chimmed.

"Yeah, but with what we're hoping to achieve, and what the world loves, do you really think many people will join our cause?" Sophie argued.

"If they've got the choice, join or die, I think they'll take the join somehow…" Emily said, voice filled with confidence, as they walked out of the temple, leaving Candice and the dead Regigigas as the only sign that they'd ever visited the place.

***

Sunnyshore City was living up to it's name: It was sunny. And hot. Way too hot for someone who'd spent most of her life in the Shiver camp, Almia. Avaril Segar raised one hand to wipe the sweat off her forehead, and mentally stared daggers at the sun.

"AGH!" She exclaimed. "I don't know how much more of this I can take!"

The Lucario standing next to her, covered equally in sweat but pretending that he wasn't, gave a longing glance at the ocean. His multicoloured eyes swept over the water, imagining the relief from the punishing sun it would give.

"The boat to Snowpoint city should be here in about 5 minutes Suku. We can't get in the water." Avaril said, noticing his look.

Suku replied, then sprinted towards the ocean.

Avaril sighed, then sprinted after her partner. Watching Suku swim around in the water was just too much for Avaril. She dumped her bag on the beach, and raced in after him. 10 minutes later, both trainer and Pokemon were standing on the deck of a large ship, soaking wet. Avaril tried to wring her long red hair out, glaring at Suku.

"That is the last time I ever cave to peer pressure."

Suku pointedly ignored her, just walking into their room for the cruise. Avaril sighed, then picked up her bag and followed the Lucario inside.

(I've had this idea for a while, and I've tried writing it as a Fanfic, but It just hasn't been working so I'll turn it into a PRP. I'll accept a max. of 5 people including myself to join this. Only join if your fine with violence, death blah blah blah. And just a warning; be prepared for your own Pokemon's death. If you're all good with that, PM me your first post, and see if you get the A.OK

Zack hated waiting. Yet, here he was, waiting. The egg sitting next to him shivered, the Pokémon inside would hatch soon. Josh, Zack's Blaziken, looked at it. Neither had any idea what Pokémon was inside, it looked like any other egg.

Zack was in Lilycove City, the second largest city in the islands, the only one larger was Johto's Goldenrod City. He was waiting for his friend, Tony, a Team Magma Commander. Tony was working out some tense negotiations in the local base. Such negotiations took forever. He had amused himself by checking out the Museum. Afterwards he had gone to the Department Store, and stocked up on items.

A rich boy went by, sticking up his nose as he passed Zack. He could understand why, his grey hair, a weird color for a fifteen year old, was messy. His clothes weren't much better, Black T-shirt and grey jacket that were gifts from Tony, grey pants and black shoes. His only possessions in good shape were his backpack and a crimson scarf. Still, he hated being looked down on, and when the boy passed he called,

"Nice nose, you supposed to be a Nosepass or something?" it was corny, but it had the desired effects.
"What did you just call me?" The rich boy spun on his heel, facing Zack.
"Hard of hearing too? I called you a Nosepass!" Zack made sure to yell it loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.
"Why you little," The rich boy pulled a Luxury Ball from his belt, and released the Pokémon inside, a Manectric.

Zack grinned, handing the egg to Josh for safekeeping, and released his own Pokémon. A Golem he had named Ben.

"Thunder!" the rich boy called. A lightning bolt streaked down from the cloudy sky, striking Ben.

The Ground-Type shook the attack off, it had had no affect what so ever.

"Stone Edge," Zack called, "follow up with Rock Tomb!"

"Dodge it!"

The Manectric dodged the attack, but was captured by the Rock Tomb.

"Rock Smash!"

"Endure!"

Ben smashed the Tomb, throwing the Manectric several feet back. But it got up.

"Ice Fang!" the rich boy called.

"Protect!"

The Golem pulled itself into its rock-like shell. The Ice Fang connected, but did little damage.

"Now, Rollout!"

Ben started rolling around the field, smashing into several buildings, and the rich boys Manectric. The Manectric was thrown into its trainer, out cold. Ben stopped, pulling himself back out of his shell.

"I win, pay up!" Zack called to the boy.

The boy threw the money on the ground, and stomped off. Zack collected his reward, and returned Ben to his pokeball, before hearing a familiar voice behind him.

"Why is it that I can't leave you alone for five minutes without you going after some random trainer?"

Zack spun around to see the familiar faces of Tony and his Buizel, Seth. Tony grinned at him, Zack grinned back.

"He was really rude, and I was bored," Zack replied.

"Well after that you must be hungry," said Tony.

Zack's stomach growled in agreement, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Tony took him to his place, a small house near the secret entrance to the base. Zack called out his team, Ben, a Sneasel named Claire, and a Porygon named Rom, and gave them food as well. Tony did the same with his team, a Quilava named Flynt, a Flygon named Blitz, and a red-furred Lucario named Jake.

Josh and Seth had both developed a taste for human food over the years, and ate hotdogs with the two trainers.

"So what took you so long?" Zack asked.

"Lost connection with our spies in Snowpoint City, Maxie wanted one of us to check it out," Tony answered.

"Team Magma has spies in Galactic Territory?

"Yes, we have spies in every city in every region."

"So who got assigned to check out the city?"

"I did, of course," Tony sighed.

"So when are we going?"

"We?"

"Yes â€˜We' I'm not passing up this opportunity!"

Tony sighed again, "The ship leaves in three hours."

â€˜Then let's go!"

The two trainers returned their Pokémon to their pokeballs and hurried down to the port.

The trip through the waters was rather uneventful. Some bored sailors challenged Avaril to battles. Only one had pushed Suku's and the others abilities. Most of the time, she and Suku had practiced various stances, punches, kicks, blocks and katas. One of the things that she enjoyed the most was leaning over the railing of the ship, drinking in the air that grew steadly colder. The temperature plummeted as they grew closer and closer to their destination.

After 2 days at sea (Luckily Avaril had a strong stomach), Snowpoint City came into view. Running to the front of the ship, she leaned out, looking at their destination.

"Look! We'll soon be in Snowpoint! Our battle with Candice will be soon Suku."

The Lucario came up behind his trainer, looking at the city without making a sound, but there was a faint smile on his face. Good, he was looking forwards to it. As if on cue, the captains voice rang out over a speaker, telling them that they would be docking in 10 minutes. This made Avaril exclaim, realising that she hadn't packed anything… and that almost everything she owned was strewn all over the floor.

***

Avaril sighed, finally having everything in her bag. Suku studied the room with his multicoloured eyes, searching for anything that his trainer had missed. Seeming to not find anything, he turned to face her just as the speakers crackled and the captain spoke.

"Please… go to the main dinning room. Everyone t-to the main dining room before you leave." He sounded quite stressed.

Avaril nodded, and pulled three Pokeballs out of her bag, just in case. Then the two made their way outside, into the cold night. It wasn't snowing for once, but their was a lot of clouds in the sky that looked on the verge of snowing. Glancing out to the ocean, Avaril spotted another ship. This one appeared to have come from Hoenn. She could see a group of people, dressed in gold and black boarding the ship. Caution murmured. Footsteps made the duo turn. A young boy was walking towards them.

"Come on." He said enthusiastically. "We have to go to the main dining room. The captain said so!"

Without waiting for their answer, he grabbed Avaril's hand and dragged her to the dining room. Inside, the people who were on the ship had gathered. Standing on a stage was the captain. He wasn't looking at anyone, just the floor.

"Is that everyone?" He asked. "Is anyone missing?"

Everyone in the room looked around, muttering to each other.

"No. We are all here." A man said.

"Good…" A new voice purred.

17 people, dressed in gold and black stepped out of the wings of the stage. Each was wearing the same uniform, a black skin tight suit with gold tips. Each person had a large utility belt, with numerous weapons of all kinds. On each of their arms was a machine that was connected to the belt. One, a tall slender female pulled out a gun and shot the captain with it. The captain's form fell and hit the floor, blood spilling out of the wound in the back of his head. Screams erupted from some people. Other's drew out Pokeballs.

"Machoke!"

"Torchic!"

"Gengar!"

Avaril and Suku were throw to the ground by the fleeing people.

"Split up! Don't let them escape!" The tall female screamed.

Avaril and about twenty other trainers were left in the room, facing the seven gold and black people remaining. The female who seemed to be in charge was also there, smirking at the sight of the Pokemon. Some of the members seemed to shift uneasily and pretended that the Pokemon weren't there. It was odd.

"Machoke!" A buff sailor guy shouted. "Use Vital Throw!"

Other commands were given as the Machoke raced towards the female. She just smiled, not moving a muscle to raise her gun or release her Pokemon. When the Machoke was within 3 metres of the woman, brown lights began coming out of the Machokes body, turning it colourless. The Pokemon stopped in shock, looking at it's almost transparent body. All around the room, sparks of different colours were being transferred to the machines on the people's arms.

The Lucario wasted no time, picking his trainer up with ease and sprinting towards the front of the ship, where it would be much easier to flee. As a corner came close, Suku crashed into the boy from earlier, dropping Avaril.

"Look out! One of them are co-" A single gunshot rang out, and the boy dropped like a stone, blood pouring out of the wound in his head.

Avaril instantly grabbed Suku's Pokeball and returned him to it, then stood up as one of the Odians raced around the corner, holding a gun. Seeing her, he aimed it at her heart.

His eyes became even sadder. "You should just join. They'll hunt you down, like they did to my son. You have to kill all but one of your Pokemon. That remaining one they keep, to make sure you'll do what they say. It's easier if you just join."

"Live without Suku?" Avaril shouted. "Heck no!"

She threw herself out of the way as the Odian fired the gun. After aiming a sweeping kick at his ankle, Avaril ran far off, getting as far away as she could.

"Vuplix, use flamethrower!" She shouted, releasing the said Pokemon from it's Pokeball.
A small fox like Pokemon popped out of it's Pokeball and released a massive green flame, which engulfed the man. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as he screamed in pain. Avaril made herself stand tall and strong. She would not feel anything for this monster.

Suddenly, red sparks started coming off Vulpix, causing the Flamethrower to become weaker and weaker with every spark. In seconds, the fox Pokemon was completely drained of colour. Avaril spun around, staring at the tall female, who was smirking. She raised her gun, pointing at Vulpix. Quick as lightning, Avaril returned the colourless Vulpix to her Pokeball.

Avaril grabbed the railing of the ship and jumped as her burst into pain. She plummeted into the cold waters, head spinning. The water around her was becoming red with her blood. Fumbling for a Pokeball, Avaril released her Floatzel and grabbed hold. The otter Pokemon looked up, hearing the gunshots from above and understood. Moving at top speed, he swum away from the ships, to land.

The ride to Snowpoint took a whole week. The two boys entertained themselves with battles, which they both won easily. The temperature dropped with each passing day, Zack hated it. He already missed the warm climate of Hoenn. Josh held the egg mainly now, his naturally warm body keeping it comfortable.

On impulse, Zack returned Josh to his pokeball, and hid the egg in his backpack. Tony did the same with Seth, and the two returned to the main deck. The passengers had grouped in the lobby. The captain stood atop the staircase, in front of the door leading to the stern of the ship, and the way onto the dock.

Seventeen people stepped out of the shadows, dressed in gold and black. They each wore a large utility belt, loaded with weapons. On each of their arms was an odd machine that connected to the belt. One, a fit man, pushed the captain, sending her toppling down the stairs. Several trainers, mainly members of the crew, responded, sending out their Pokemon.

Zack was about to join them, when Tony stopped him, "Wait!"

One of the sailor's had a Makuhita, he commanded it to use it's Arm Thrust. The small Pokemon ran at the oddly dressed people. It couldn't have been closer then three yards from the man who pushed the captain when it started to turn pale, brown lights where pulling off the Pokemon, entering the man's machine.

"We are the Odians," he yelled, "join us, or die!"

With that many of the trainers rushed to escape the lobby, poring back into the depths of the ship.

"After them!" the man called, and a large number of the black-and-gold clad people chased after the fleeing trainer.
"What's going on!?" Zack yelled to the Team Magma commander.
"I dunno, but Team Galactic was talking about these guys at one of our last meetings, Commander Mars herself requested back up from both Team Magma and Aqua, and they both refused. Apparently she was able to get Giovanni to send a few Rockets, and neither her nor the Rockets have been heard from since."
"So what do we do!?"
"This, Jake, Aura sphere!"

In a flash, the red furred Lucario appeared, Tony had neglected to removed the tattered hood it wore, so the Magma emblem was displayed on its chest. It launched the Sphere, which the Odians dodged with ease. The sphere connected with the door, destroying it in an explosion of Aura energy.

Tony returned the Lucario to its pokeball, and grabbed Zack's hand. He charged the door, and was able to escape onto the deck. He threw another one of his pokeballs, and out came the familiar form of Blitz, Tony's Flygon.

"Blitz, get us out of here!"

The Flygon nodded, allowing the two trainers to climb onto its back. They took off, flying away from the ship.

Hovering over the ruins of Snowpoint City on this calm snowless night was a giant blue disc with four massive arms tucked underneath its body. On the creature's face was a silver X shaped cross with its red eyes between the upper and lower corners. Setting this Metagross apart from the rest of its species was a scar going down its left eye starting just above its "eyebrow."

Standing on the Iron Leg Pokémon's head was its trainer. The man stood tall at about 5'11" as his green eyes analyzed the destruction from behind his red tinted glasses. Hanging over Arthias's eyes and blue headband were four locks of his styled back brown hair which blew slightly in a gentle breeze. While his face looked to be that of a man in his mid-twenties, Arthias was already a battle hardened warrior complete with a diagonal battle scar on his left cheek, similar to his Pokémon's.

Arthias even dressed the part of the War God he claimed to be, wearing black pants tucked into black boots and a long-sleeved black tunic underneath his armor consisting of a black breast plate, black shoulder pads that curved upward into twelve inch spikes and black gauntlets running up the length of his arms. Complete with his black cape and claymore stained red with his victims' blood, Arthias looked as intimidating and dangerous as he really was, having no sympathy or remorse for the lives of anyone. The only thing that mattered to him was power and testing the limits of his abilities; a threshold that has yet to be found as Arthias has never lost a battle in his life be it with Pokémon or hand-to-hand.

Tonight the War God's target was Regigigas. If the Colossal Pokémon was a worthy opponent then Arthias would harness its power for himself and have yet another soldier in his army of madness. Not even the smoke rising from the city below and the scent of death fazed Arthias in the least. All it meant was that someone else had gotten there before him.

"Descend." he ordered coldly. The Metagross obliged by flying toward Snowpoint Temple and lowering at the entrance. Arthias felt a quick sensation of apprehension at the sight of the damaged opening of the Temple. Arthias returned Metagross to its Pokéball as he walked into the darkness.

Arthias moved guardedly through the shrine with his hand by the hilt of his claymore incase he needed to attack. Laying at the end of the hallway leading into the main chamber was a dead human body. Arthias stood over the impaled corpse soon identifying the remains as Candice, Snowpoint's former Gym Leader. The blood was still fresh so she must have died fairly recently. He callously kicked the body out of his way as he entered the main chamber. The slight of the bleached carcass of Regigigas had Arthias unsheathing his sword and smashing the blade into anything within range.

"Bastards! Bastards! How dare someone kill my prey!" he roared furiously swinging his claymore around wildly. "I'll massacre them! Regigigas was mine! Any being fit to be called the King of Kings was meant for me!"

When Arthias finally regained his composure, the room was scarred from the man's whirlwind of chaos. He had come to an exciting realization. Whoever was responsible for the murder of Regigigas was obviously a more powerful foe. Arthias tore out of Snowpoint Temple in anticipation at the thought of doing battle with this new opponent. Once outside, Arhias lifted his claymore pointing it to the sky.

"I am the War God Arthias! You who killed Regigigas come forth and face me! I will wait here for twenty minutes for you to arrive and accept my challenge before hunting you down myself!" he proclaimed into the night.

Hearing the sounds of battle to the south, Arthias concluded that that was where his enemy resided and quickly raced toward Snowpoint Harbor. When he arrived, the only sign of life was a Floatzel pulling a semiconscious woman from the water. By the looks of her she had been injured, presumably by a fire arm of some sort. A pitiful weapon.

Arthias casually walked over to the woman and grabbed a handful of her red hair, dragging her the rest of the way out of the water and lifting her up. "Woman! Who did this to you and where are they now?" he demanded unsure of whether or not she could even understand him in this state.

Aden walked away from the building that had been known as the Snowpoint city Gym, grumbling. He didn't understand why Yepa and the others didn't like his plan. Why didn't they just storm Sinnoh first, then the other regions, killing everyone in their way? Why did they need to get all complex? He shook his head failing to understand.

"I am the War God Arthias! You who killed Regigigas come forth and accept my challenge! I will wait here for twenty minutes for you to arrive before hunting you down myself!" A voice shouted into the night.

Aden perked up instantly. Someone wanted to fight. Someone other than himself. True, Emily, Yepa and Sophie had been the ones to kill Regigigas, but they were busy so he could accept the challenge for them.

He sprinted to where he'd heard the voice from, but found nothing but footprints in the snow. That was odd. If you'd made a challenge, wouldn't you wait for the challenger to appear? Shaking his head again, Aden ran off, following those footprints.

***

The water was ice… daggers of ice piercing her skin. The bullet, lodged deep in her arm was a fire that no water air or earth could quell. Avaril wanted to scream in agony. But, being underwater as she was, she remained silent, focusing her entire being on keeping her mouth shut tight.

Looking into the dark waters, she spotted a few darker shapes following them, streaking forwards. They seemed to be following the red trail of her blood through the water. Sharpedo probably. But Floatzel could outswim them.

Her lungs were now on the point of bursting. Fear sunk it's claws in, claws that felt warm in comparison to the water. Avaril banged her fist on Floatzel's back, hoping he understood her unsaid plea for air. He seemed to have gotten the message, for he started on an almost vertical ascent.

A wall of bone chilling cold greeted her head as she burst out of the water, gasping for air. After taking a few deep breaths to calm herself and regain the amount of air she needed to go under again, Avaril nodded to Floatzel, who grabbed a hold of her again as he dove down, swimming forwards again. Seconds later, she spotted the bottom of the ocean below her, and knew they were coming close to the shore. She wasn't sure if that would be a curse or a blessing. It would be nice to be out of this water, but she would almost definitely catch hypothermia. Hell, she'd have it anyway.

Her head was spinning as Floatzel helped her up out of the water, left arm dead. She barely looked up when Floatzel cried out, but she was sent into a state of shock as she felt something grab her hair and drag her out of the water.

"Hey…" She complained.

Judging by the fact that he didn't respond, she'd been far quieter than she'd expected. She couldn't help but let out a silent yelp as he lifted her off the ground.

"Woman! Who did this to you and where are they now?" He demanded, in a give-me-no-nonsense way.

By lifting Avaril off the ground, he'd given her a clear view of his face. His face was hard — he was clearly a warrior — but his green eyes made the rest of his face seem warm in comparison. They were colder than the wind that blew around them, but excited somehow. His red glasses gave his eyes a weird tint, making them appear slightly brown. Hair, closer to black then brown, framed his face and four strands hung over his blue headband. Judging by how far off the ground she was, and the fact that he could actually hold her up, told Avaril that he was tall, and very strong as well. Avaril was no pixie.

Her instincts and emotions told her that she should get as far away from this man as she could. And that was before she'd seen the sword he carried. Avaril could probably outrun him, but she'd been surprised by too many people to just think herself the faster one. Best to answer.

"They called themselves the Odians I believe." She told him, managing to ignore her arm. Just. "They were on the ship I came here on." Remembering the people she'd seen boarding the other ship, she added: "And I think on another ship as well."

Hopefully that was the information he was after. All Avaril really cared about was getting Chansey to look at her arm. Unsurprisingly, she could hear Floatzel snarling at the green eyed man. The sound of gunshots made Avaril turn her head quickly, searching for the source. All she could see was a dark shape in the sky, decending towards the water quickly. Judging by the fact that the shape was still far away from the shore, something had gone wrong. Still, she couldn't spare sympathy for whatever that shape was. She had her own problems to deal with.

"Come on Blitz, just a little further to the dock!" Tony urged the Pokemon on.

Exerting the last of his strength, Blitz was able to pull up and land on the dock a little bit away from the ship, closer to a native looking one. Zack could see several shadowy figures further down, but his attention was diverted when the Flygon collapsed. There was a bullet wound in the Pokemon's left side, not two inches from where Zack's foot had been. Tony pulled a modified PokeNav out of his backpack, and dialed one of the several numbers he had stored in it. After several moment's the face of Ein, Team Magma's head scientist, appeared on the screen.

"What is it, it is very late," He asked irritably.
"It's Blitz, he's been shot," Tony replied.
The scientist's face took on a much more serious look, "How bad is it?"

Tony turned the screen away from him, showing Ein the wound.

"I see, send him here at once, I will see what I can do," Ein said as Tony turned the PokeNav to face him again.

Tony nodded, and returned the injured Flygon to its Poke Ball. A small slot opened up in the PokeNav, which Tony placed the Poke Ball in. The ball was transformed into data, which was absorbed by the PokeNav. After a minute, a Poke Ball appeared in a machine behind Ein. The scientist took the ball, and gave it to one of his underlings before turning back to the screen.

Ein nodded, before leaving the screen. He returned after a moment with a Great Ball, and placed it on the machine. It was transformed into data, appearing with a flash on the slot in the PokeNav. Tony took the ball, and holstered it to his belt with the other three.

"Oh, and Ein," Tony began.
"Yes?" Ein sighed.
"Contact the Boss when you can, tell him we need back-up."
"I will do what I can, no more," the scientist replied, before ending the transmission.

Zack turned and saw that the shadows from before were still there. He nudged Tony, and pointed them out.

"They've been there since we landed, maybe even before," he told the Commander.
"Well," he replied, "why don't we head over and see what happening."

He released Seth from his Poke Ball, and gripped the Great Ball in his hand. The Buizel climbed onto his shoulder. Zack released Josh, and handed him the egg, hoping the thing wasn't damaged in their flight. He also grabbed Ben's Poke Ball.

The two approached the figures from behind, hoping to trap them between themselves and the freezing water. As they got closer the shadows started to become clearer. A man dressed in armor, with an over-sized blade on his back, was holding a young girl by her hair. The third figure was a Floatzel, it was growling at the man, which meant it was most likely the girl's.

"Why don't you let the girl go, and face someone that can look you in the eye?" Tony called out to the man in a polite, yet cold and authoritative, tone.

Zack didn't think challenging the man was a good idea. Tony was only nineteen, and even though he stood about 6'1", he was very thin, which, when paired with his overly pale skin, made him look sickly. The man on the other hand, looked a lot stronger, seemed to be ready for anything thrown at his way, and he was definitely dressed for a battle.

Arthias all but ignored the growling Floatzel. If it was worth anything, it would be taking some sort of action to help its trainer rather than trying to act intimidating. There were more important things to think about than that worthless creature. Important things like how there was not just one person involved in the death of Regigigas, but an entire group calling themselves the Odians.

A sinister smirk crossed the warrior's face as he imagined taking on a whole army at once. The sound of footsteps crunching in the snow alerted him to the presence of someone trying to sneak up behind him.

"Why don't you let the girl go, and face someone that can look you in the eye?" shouted some wretched kid putting on a tough-guy act. Arthias turned his head to the boy who looked like he should be in bed drinking hot soup, not standing in outside in Snowpoint at night. Standing with him was another boy, a Blaziken, and a Buizel. The War God was unimpressed. He carelessly dropped the girl he had been interrogating moments before, drew his claymore, and pointed it at this foolish newcomer's throat.

"Are the two of you Odians?" asked Arthias uncaringly. Whether or not these boys were made no difference, their fates were sealed the moment they challenged the warrior.

No matter a person's age, gender, or strength, Arthias was not the type to hold back. If there was one thing the man respected, it was the art of combat. He would strike with his full power every time. The weaker ones would die the fastest while the stronger would survive long enough to serve some amusement before they too inevitably perished.

Based on the Pokemon already on dispay, it was clear that these brats wanted a Pokemon battle. Not wavering his sword, Arthias grabbed a black sphere with a yellow U on it from behind his cape in his left hand and held it out in front of him.

"Aggron!" he summoned opening the Ultra Ball. Materializing in a burst of white light was a gigantic monster with dark grey, almost black, armor covering its entire body and a silver head with three sharp silver horns on it; two up top and one just above its nose. The horns were matched only by the creatures sharp claws.

"You wanted a fight? You got! Earthquake!" the warrior ordered pulling back his blade away from his opponents so that they could properly defend themselves. Aggron slammed its long powerful tail to the ground sending tremors and snow toward the young duo. If they could not survive this attack them the two boys were nothing but loathsome trash that had been appropriately cleaned up.

The man looked back at them, before dropping the girl. He drew his claymore and pointed it at Tony's neck. The boy grinned, the man might not realize it, but he had just given Tony a bit of power. And Tony knew how to make that power grow.

"Are the two of you Odians?" the man asked, not really caring.

He grabbed an Ultra Ball from behind his back, calling out an Aggron. Zack's eye's widened, he had only seen the Pokemon once before, in possession of Maxie, the boss of Team Magma.

"You wanted a fight? You got! Earthquake!"

The man pulled the sword away from Tony's neck. Allowing them to defend themselves. The Aggron slapped its tail down, sending tremors towards the two boys. Zack acted quickly, he snapped Ben's Poke Ball back onto his belt.

He called out Rom, and called, "Protect!"

The Porygon summoned a barrier, stopping the attack in its tracks.

"I'll take him, you check on the girl," Tony told him.

Zack nodded, returning Rom to its Poke Ball. He ran over to the girl. She was breathing, but it looked as if she had been shot as well.

"Hey, you okay?" he asked her.

A flash of light distracted Zack. Looking over, he saw that Tony had called out Jake instead of what was in the Great Ball. The red-furred Lucario grinned, sizing up its opposition.

"To answer your question, no, my friend and I are not Odians. We are Magmas," Tony grinned, showing the chain he wore. On the end of the chain was the Team Magma M. The Lucario nodded, tapping the M on the hood it wore.

Avaril wasn't surprised that Floatzel had done nothing but growl. He preferred to intimidated opponents, try and make them nervous before attacking. Of course, intimidating this man was a battle doomed to be lost. She only spared a moments though to that though. This warrior hadn't let go at all, a bad sign. He seemed to be considering something when a voice called out.

"Why don't you let the girl go, and face someone that can look you in the eye?" A voice called out.

Twisting her head again, Avaril spotted the owner of the voice, a tall, thin boy. Avaril mentally facepalmed. The idiot. Didn't he have any sense of caution? The shorter boy beside the one who had spoken out seemed a little nervous, but determined. A Buizel and a Blaziken accompanied them.

Avaril gave a yelp as suddenly the ground rushed up to met her. She hadn't been ready for that at all, so the collision dazed her for a moment. Only a moment. She could see the warrior pointing his sword at the boy's throat.

"Are the two of you Odians?" He asked, sounding bored by their challenge.

Without pausing, or wavering in his stance, an ultra ball was thrown onto the snow, releasing a gigantic beast, covered in metal. The Aggron roared in defiance, a gleam in it's eye.

"You wanted a fight? You got! Earthquake!" The man cried, removing his sword from the boy's neck at the same time.

On command, the Aggron slammed it's tail down on the ground, sending tremors through the earth, breaking the ground beneath them, sending snow flying. A large rumbling sound filled the air, so loud that Avaril couldn't hear her own thoughts. Because of the noise, the second boy's command was lost, but luckly for him, his Polygon seemed to have heard, because a green sphere, almost transparent leapt up around them. Avaril looked over, in the direction of Snowpoint. Several dark shapes were speeding towards them, or going as fast as they could in the deep snow. Avaril had a hunch she knew exactly who they were.

Stupid, mule headed men! I really want to punch all three of them for attracting attention… she mentally snarled.

"Hey, you okay?" The seconded boy said, looking concerned.

Avaril was pretty pissed now, with the idiots attracting the Odian's attention and all that, so she just glared at him. Not that he noticed. He was watching the battle, seeming worried about his friend.

"To answer your question, no, my friend and I are not Odians. We are Magmas." The boy said, flashing the Team Magma sign on the end of a chain. "Show him your Aura Sphere Jake." He commanded.

The Lucario, Avaril assumed this was Jake, nodded and concentrated, a blue green sphere of swirling aura appearing in his open hands. The shadows — 99.9% chance that they were Odians — were getting extremely close now. Avaril leapt to her feet. This had to stop before they — well, okay, the warrior — hacked each other to pieces. Jake fired the Aura sphere at the Aggron. Unfortunately for him it bounced right off the steel types armoured hide.

"Stop!" Avaril shouted on the top of her lungs. "Stop this now!"

"Oh no, don't stop." A deep voice said.

Avaril had been correct, the shadows were Odians. Seven of them were in gold and black, but the male who was leading wore a blood red jacket that was open, showing his chest. His pants were jet black and torn, with hints of gold on them. He was tall, standing at about the same height as the really tall boy, but he was a lot more muscular then the boy, so he didn't look as if he should be on his death bed. He tossed his long red dreadlocks over his sholder and surveyed all four of them with almost black eyes.

"The fight is just beginning, so why stop?" He asked, his voice polite, but his eyes blazing. "My name is Aden. Could you tell me your names? I like knowing who I kill."

As the disturbed snow settled, Arthias could see a pink Pokemon with a blue beak and blue feet projecting a transparent green barrier around the two trainers and their Pokemon. The second boy returned the Porygon to its Pokeball at the request of his older comrade and ran to check on the girl getting dangerously close to Arthias. The warrior could feel his sword arm twitch at the urge to cut the child down for such an unwise move, but it seemed the other one wanted the fight to be one-on-one. So be it. The boy behind Arthias would be spared for now.

Rather than battle with the Blaziken as Arthias had assumed, his opponent opted to use a Lucario instead. The War God couldn't help but admire the blood colored fur of the Aura Pokemon.

"To answer your question, no, my friend and I are not Odians. We are Magmas." said the boy finally answering the question Arthias had posed. He further proved it by showing off the emblem on his chain and on his Lucario's cloak.

"It has been awhile since I killed a Magma. It looks like the blood of two more will be added to my sword tonight." Arthias taunted. Without missing a beat, Magma commanded his Lucario, apparently named Jake, to launch an Aura Sphere. "Iron Defence." uttered the warrior under his breath.

Aggron's already impenetrable defense grew even more fortified as the Lucario charged a pale azure sphere between his hands. The Anubis like creature threw his arms forward releasing the energy ball which exploded in a weak burst on the Iron Armor Pokemon's body. For being a double Super-effective attack, the damage dealt was pitiful, even with Iron Defense in effect.

"How absolutely laughable!" Arthias mocked. "It would seem you do not have the power to back up your tough words boy." he said disappointed. "Aggron! Iron He-"

"Stop! Stop this now!" begged the girl. The warrior pulled his claymore from its resting place sticking out of the ground by his side to silence the wench once and for all as punishment for interupting his battle when yet another voice intruded.

"Oh no, don't stop." instructed a muscular man with red dreadlocks and coal black eyes. He wore torn black pants with golden hems along with an open crimson jacket exposing his chiseled chest. To Arthias this man was more of an opponent then the punk he had been toying with just now. Accompanying this newcomer were seven others wearing black and gold uniforms. As this man was dressed differently, it meant he held some status among the ranks which excited Arthias even more.

"The fight is just beginning, so why stop?" he inquired rhetorically but politely while taking in the people before him. "My name is Aden. Could you tell me your names? I like knowing who I kill."

"I am Arthias." the warrior introduced. "Remember it well, as it will be the last name any of you will hear." He said not only addressing these new enemies, but the three he was already with as well. The Magmas returned their Pokemon at the mere sight of these people and took off running. Such cowards.

"Recall your Pokemon if you wish them to live, these are Odians!" shouted the boy Arthias had been battling. Odians! So these were the one who killed Regigigas. The War God smiled with pleassure that the ones he really wanted to fight had finally shown up. He was even feeling generous enough to let those other weaklings flee with their miserable lives. If they never met Arthias again, it would be because fortune was good to them.

"So you are the Odians I have heard about. I have seen what you did to Regigigas and I must say, I am very impressed. Do not take this personally, but it would be rather humiliating if someone of your caliber ran off with their tail between their legs if this fight does not go in their favor. Aggron! Stealth Rock!" he commanded. The Steel-typed monster smashed its hand to the ground causing several jagged pillars of stone shooting out of the snow surrounding both Arthias and the Odians.

Arthias held his bloodstained claymore out in front of himself fully prepared to use it, but for now he would use his other weapon. "Aggron! It is a bit cold out. Turn up the heat with Flamethrower!" Aggron exhaled a long tongue of bright red fire aimed at the nearest grunt. "Now!" the warrior shouted charging Aden with his sword hoisted over his shoulder to swing.

Aden smiled. Arthias. It suited his to-be-dead opponent. He watched as one of the others shouted, telling everyone to recall their Pokemon and run. Silly boy. He would be hunted down, along with anyone else who ran. Arthias's eyes seemed to light up upon hearing that they were Odians.

"So you are the Odians I have heard about. I have seen what you did to Regigigas and I must say, I am very impressed. Do not take this personally, but it would be rather humiliating if someone of your caliber ran off with their tail between their legs if this fight does not go in their favor. Aggron! Stealth Rock!" He shouted.

The accursed Aggron roared on the top of it's lungs before smashing it's clawed hand into the ground. A good 25 metres away, stone pillars burst out of the ground suddenly, trapping his minions and opponents in an arena. Out of the corner of his eye, Aden spotted the three who had fled manage to stop just before they crashed into the wall of stone the Aggron had created.

"Split up. Half take the Pokemon. The rest take the other trainers. Arthias is mine." Aden said, loud enough for only his minions to hear. "Don't worry Arthias." He called to his opponent. "Unlike the rest of my equals, I do not run when the going gets tough, I just get going!"

Arthias didn't reply, just brought out his blood soaked sword. Aden's muscles tensed, his body automatically drawing upon the stored power of his â€˜collar'. The snow within a metre of him started to melt into water. Heat filled his veins as his opponent gave a command to his soon-to-be-screwed Aggron. Hoisting his sword over his shoulder, Arthias charged at Aden, who smiled calmly and focused on the sword in his opponents hand. The weapon instantly glowed white hot, now as hot as a star. It wasn't surprising that Arthias dropped his weapon, his hands searing red. Without missing a beat Aden tensed again, causing a series of fiery fire balls to fly out and surrounded Arthias, then explode in a series of deadly explosions. Fissures opened up in the ground and molten rock and lava erupted out of them, raining down to earth. Aden heard the screams of his minions, his opponents and their Pokemon. But he didn't care. The sound was something vague for him. The silver lights coming off the slowly weakening Aggron could not be seen by his eyes. All he cared about was the fight, which, if Arthias was good, was just beginning.

***

Being pulled around was something Avaril really hated, especially because this boy hadn't given her a chance to recall Floatzel. Luckily, his Great Ball wasn't far away, and seconds later he was safely tucked away. Then Avaril turned her speed up a notch, until she was practically dragging the boy over the icy landscape. Even though she hated being dragged around, she wanted to get away from those Odians more.

Suddenly, massive stone towers burst out of the ground in front of her causing Avaril and the others to skid to a halt. Spinning around, she saw that stone pillars had burst up all around the battle field, creating an inheritable wall around them. Seeing that the only way out would be to fight, Avaril drew herself up tall.

All around her were signs of battle. Arthias had completely disappeared in a fiery explosion, his sword laying on the melting snow. His Aggron was slowly turning colourless from the Odians who surrounded it, leaping out of it's attacks. She could just make out some kind of armor, being fuelled by the black machines on their arms. Three Odians were charging towards them, focusing completely on getting close to them first. Avaril smiled, every lesson running though her head as she leapt forwards, moving much faster than they were. She grabbed the closest grunts arm, forcing it across his body then pushing the majority of her strength into his locked elbow, which shattered. Taking a small step back as the man screamed, Avaril launched a kick into the man's groin, making him collapse in a heap on the ground. The tall female from the ship reached for her gun in alarm, but Avaril didn't let her do that, kicking with the blade of her foot into the woman's knee, dislocating it. She too fell to the ground, screaming but with still enough sense left in the pain to raise her gun hand. Avaril stamped down on it, hard then brought her other foot down on the woman's throat, holding in there as the Odian's eyes rolled into the back of her head and as the life left her body.

Looking around for the last Odian who'd come their way, Avaril spotted the Aggron who was now pure white. Even though his armor was still there, the bullets from the Odian's firearms shot right through it, as if it wasn't there. The creature screamed as one bullet pierced it's heart and gave a shudder as it died. Avaril felt a deep sadness for the creature, having to face an end like that.

They almost got about 25 yards, before a stone pillar shot out of the ground.

Spinning around, Zack saw that three of the Odians had chased them.

"I am Avaril Segar!" had she lost it?

The armor-clad man, Arthias, had disappeared in an explosion. His Aggron was slowly losing its power, which was being absorbed by the Odians fighting it. The girl charged at their pursuers, quickly taking down two of them. Looking around Zack saw that Tony had managed to get behind one of them, and had him at knife-point. He muttered something in his ear, then slit the man's throat.

Looking back at the battle, Zack saw the Aggron fall, riddled with bullet holes.

"Stupid idiot, I told him to recall it," Tony growled.

The Commander started to walk the rims of the stealth rock, looking for something. After making sure no more Odian's around, he pulled out the Great Ball and released the Pokemon inside, a Sandslash.

"Sasori, can you dig through this ground, or do you need it to be thawed?" Tony asked the Pokemon.

The Pokemon attempted to dig, before shaking its head. In response, Tony pulled out another Poke Ball, and released Flynt, his Quilava.

"Flynt, thaw the ground with Flamethrower," the Quilava did as asked, then the Sandslash began digging.
"This will take a while," the Commander called to the two of them, "make sure none of the Odians can get close."

Zack nodded, and took the dagger from Tony. He checked on the three bodies already around them. Two were dead, one unconscious. Zack brought the dagger down, through the man's neck, and he breathed no more.

It only took a second, but the temperature of Arthias's claymore escalated to unimaginable levels. Despite wearing gauntlets with padding on the palms, he could still feel the searing heat that forced him to release his sword. Steam shot from the ground as the heated blade touched the snow evaporating it in an instant. It had to be the work of that Odian.

Before the warrior could make another move he was surrounded by countless fireballs, another compliment of Aden. Arthias only had time to bring in his arms to brace himself as the flames closed in in a violent explosion. If that wasn't enough, the ground had to also open up beneath his feet and swallowed him. Instinctively Arthias dug his fingers into the side of the Earth wall to slow his decent until he got a good hold.

"Damn him!" muttered the War God still smoking from the fire attack. The warrior's armor had protected most of his body however his exposed clothes and cape had been singed in the explosion. Regardless, his enemy was still up there breathing so there was no point in wallowing in a chasm with a pool of lava waiting below.

Arthias climbed back to the surface just in time to see the final ounces of life striped from his Aggron turning it the same ghostly white as Regigigas. The final drop was taken by a mere bullet which should have bounced off the metal monster's hide, but instead pierced it like paper. Aggron cried its last roar as blood pored from its wound and the creature collapsed to the frozen Earth in death. The War God picked up his sword which had cooled significantly in its time in the snow and wasted no time in cleaving the Odian responsible for Aggron's death in half.

"You're a helpless fool!" Arthias chided of his latest victim. "I apologize for diverging from our fight Aden," he addressed turning to face his real foe. "it's just that I cannot stand to have my Pokemon dishonored by such an ignoble weapon as a gun. You understand right?" The sincerity in his voice and face disappeared as the battle hardened warrior readied himself for this lastest challenge. Aden had certainly prooven his worth as an opponent which only strengthened Arthias's resolve to win.

Until he fully understood this enemy's abilities, Arthias decided it would be best to not only save his Pokemon for later, but to also keep on the offensive with the leader of this group. If the warrior didn't let up on his attacks, then Aden wouldn't have the chance to launch more fire. Arthias jumped forward swinging his claymore. Unless the Odian could block the attack, dodge in time, or had a neck made of steel, his head would be rolling in a matter of seconds.

The light of the fires faded slowly, unwilling to leave. Aden was sad to see them go. They made him feel alive. Arthias was no where in sight. Or that was what he though until he spotted two hands coming out of a fissure in the ground. Aden pouted. If he couldn't hold on, then it would all be over. And that would be no fun. So instead of moving over as quickly as he could to make his opponent release his grip, he took his time. It was long enough for Arthias to pull himself up out of the ground, just at the same moment as Aden's grunts drained the last part of the… Aggron's… strength, making it nothing more special or easy to kill then a particularly unfit child. It died with a single bullet, and as the creature screamed, Aden was filled with joy, in knowing that another beast had been damned to hell. Clearly, Arthias did not apriciate his Pokemon being killed like that, for in two smooth movements, he'd cut the grunt in half.

"You're a helpless fool!" He shouted as the grunt shuddered and died, then turned to face Aden, his face apologetic. "I apologize for diverging from our fight Aden, it's just that I cannot stand to have my Pokemon dishonoured by such an ignoble weapon as a gun. You understand right?"

Without waiting for Aden's response, he moved forwards fast as lightning. This time, Aden didn't have enough time to make the weapon molten metal again, so he did the obvious. In milliseconds, Aden's whole upper body was horizontal, completely out of the way of the sword. At the same time, his hand burst into flame and he swung his arm, striking Arthias in his floating rib cage. The position of his punch, combined with the fire made the attack even more effective. In the seconds he had gained, Aden moved back, out of the reach of his opponent's sword.

"Actually," Aden said, answering Arthias's question. "I find great joy in seeing a Pokemon die at the hands of a gun. You see, I really hate Pokemon." There, let him puzzle over that.

Aden threw his hands out in front of him, a fiery ball of fire appearing in his hands. In a swift, powerful movement, Aden's hands were thrust backwards, making the fireball shot forwards, changing into a fiery star shape as it moved. Another fire ball, this one taking the shape of a ring followed it. Not the best attack, because the fire taking shapes left holes for your opponent to dodge. But he wanted to see how agile Arthias was, and this was the best attack for doing so.

***

Avaril watched as Arthias cut the last of the grunt's in half; She'd killed one, the boy two and the Aggron three before it had died. So all that remained was Aden, and he didn't seem as easy to take down as the others. What made waves of terror pulse through her was the fact that he seemed to be controlling the fire, rather than a Pokemon doing it for him. It was strange and weird. What was Aden? He looked human but…

Turning, just to see that the boy's were okay, she saw that they had a plan to get out of here. A Quilava was attempting to melt the frozen ice with a flamethrower. A Sandslash stood by them, waiting. Maybe it would try to dig out? Turning her head back to where Arthias and Aden battled, she wondered if Aden would notice if the three of them slipped away. He looked absorbed completely in the battle, so he probably wouldn't if they were quiet enough. But if Aden finished with Arthias quickly… that Quilava looked as if it would take a while to get through the ice. Remembering what happened to the Aggron, Avaril guessed that fire type moves were out for her, feeling a wave of sadness for her Vulpix. Instead, she put as much distance between her and the corpses of the Odians — god she hated killing, but it was necessary at the moment — and released Chansey.

The pink Pokemon smiled happily at Avaril seeming delighted in being released out of it's Pokeball. Then her eyes fell on the blood and Avaril's shivers and they widened in alarm. Seconds later, Chansey was at work. She produced a bell out of nowhere and rang it softly. She felt the tremors in her body slow. Avaril still didn't get how Pokemon moves could heal humans, but she wasn't complaining. Getting hypothermia wasn't much different from being frozen. The bullet was a problem though. For a few long moments, Chansey studied it, seeming to wrack her brains for a moment to think of a way to remove the bullet, but couldn't come up with one. For the millionth time Avaril wished Suku wasn't such a vengeful Pokemon. If he even saw a glimpse of another person or Pokemon when she showed him the bullet wound, he'd probably just lash out at that creature, no matter who it was.

With a sigh, Chansey turned to face the fiery battle going on in the arena. Avaril knew far better than to interfere with that battle. Hands glowing pink suddenly, Chansey created a light pink wall, then a silver light surrounded both trainer and Pokemon. Finally, she offered Avaril a hand which was accepted and felt a sudden rush of power fill her. If Arthias was taken down, she was ready as she'd ever be.

Aden showed expert skill in leaning back so that the incoming sword moved directly over his body rather than through it. With this new opening, the Odian surrounded his fist in fire and landed a flame fueled punch to Arthias's exposed chest. While his breastplate absorbed most of the attack, the force, and the fact that he was still in midair, pushed the warrior back a few inches allowing Aden to regroup as well. Arthias maneuvered himself in the air so that he landed gracefully on his feet. His first instinct was to close the distance between himself and his opponent, however Aden had other ideas.

"Actually, I find great joy in seeing a Pokemon die at the hands of a gun." said the Odian matter-of-factly. Such a simple distraction, but it was enough to stop the War God in his tracks. "You see, I really hate Pokemon." Hate Pokemon? Arthias laughed coldly at the statement. He wasn't one of those soft hearted people who absolutely loved Pokemon and would do anything he could to help them for he felt no remorse for his own Aggron's death. However Arthias couldn't truly say he hated Pokemon either. They were like his sword, a tool for battle that when used effectively could cause some serious damage.

Immidiately after Aden spoke, the Odian fired two more balls of fire from his palm. The first took the shape of a star while the second became a ring. The warrior lifted his claymore over his head as he ran to greet the flames. He then smashed his sword down vertically cutting through the fire star and by using the momentum of the attack, the War God used his blade like a pole-vault to jump through the center of the ring. Not even noticing or caring that two of the Stealth Rock pillars behind him got destroyed as the fires exploded on them, Arthias broke his fall by going into a roll to further seal the gap between himself and his adversary.

As Arthias rose back to his feet, he swung his sword upward landing a non-fatal slash to Aden's shirtless chest. With this new opening, Arthias turned his body to slam his shoulder into the Odian's bleeding wound knocking him back far enough so that the former could reposition himself and his weapon with the claymore aimed at Aden's heart. Without hessitation, the warrior rushed in for the finishing blow.

(OOC: There are still a few things Aden can do to avoid getting impaled. I hope you figure one out.)

Arthias was quite agile, that was clear from the way he could get out of they way of that attack. It was an attack Aden didn't particularly like, because of the fact that you could jump through the gaps (or create them), but the test had been successful. Unfortunately, this had put Aden in a very, very bad position. In milliseconds, Arthias was at Aden's feet. He smiled, thinking that the game was won as fire enclosed his foot. But it appeared that Arthias was in better condition than Aden had thought, moving fast enough to make a shallow wound in his chest. Shock filled Aden, then rage. Rage at seeing this blood drip from him.

Arthias then slammed his shoulder into Aden's wound, forcing him backwards. More shock. More rage. His opponent repositioned himself then charged, sword aimed for Aden's heart. Aden moved automatically, dropping down to the ground, keeping his body as low as it would go. He then grabbed his opponents feet and allowed his body to be coated in flames as Arthias fell. In milliseconds, Aden was speeding away, like a fiery comet. In the time it took Aden to get as far away as he could, Arthias was already standing.

Rage. Shock. Fear. Awe. All four ran through Aden's body as he focused again, readying his next attack. The clouds in the sky took on a red tinge as the wind speed picked up until it was howling. Embers were being held in the wind, blowing around. Not one hurt Aden, in fact they made him feel stronger. The wind formed a whirlwind around Arthias, whose face Aden couldn't make out. Then the magma that was in the fissures and on the ground rose into the air at Aden's command, then hurled itself into the whirlwind. Fire joined the magma and to top it off, the temperature in the arena soared upwards, until it would have been suitable for a desert.

A quick glance made Aden spot three people and some Pokemon fleeing towards an opening in the arena. Without letting down the attack on Arthias, Aden allowed the ground near the opening crack open and lava erupted out of it, causing the people to run away from the erupting earth. He snickered, then focused all his attention of Arthias again.

Seeing an opening in the pillars gave Zack an idea. He ran it by Tony, who agreed to try it out. The Commander released Jake, and had it use double team on them all. Once that was done the copies were send running for the opening, hoping to distract the Odian long enough to give the warrior a chance to recover from his latest predicament.

It worked, the Odian turned his attention towards the copies, stopping them with an attack reminiscent of Lava Plume. Jake made the copies flee the lava and begin a log journey around the arena, in an attempt to confuse the man more. With all the fire now practically raining from the skies, Tony's Sandslash had no trouble digging through the soil. Within moments the Pokemon returned to the surface, beckoning them over.

Tony recalled his three Pokemon, before climbing in.

Zack heard him call back, "It's a little cramped, but you guys shouldn't have any trouble!"

Next, Zack himself ran over to the hole.

He looked back at the girl, shouting, "Come on, hurry!"

Then he jumped in himself. The going was easy enough, and soon enough Zack found himself being pulled to the surface by Tony. Not willing to say near danger any longer, Tony drew a note to the girl in the now snow free ground, before dragging Zack away from the area.

Zack was able to get a look at the note before being dragged off, it said, "It's too dangerous to stay here, so we had to flee. If you are able to, meet us at the Pokemon Center, we will wait there until tomorrow morning."

At last Aden was going all out. No more games, no more testing his opponent, this was it. After the Odian was able to get his distance, he summoned a rain of fire thoughout the arena. While Arthias did his best to avoid the attacks, Aden wasn't fazed at all. In fact, he even seemed to be thriving on it. What made Arthias's life more difficult was that now his opponent was summoning more lava from the fissures all over the ground. The magma was skillfully manipulated into a whirlwind around the warrior from which there was no escape.

Atleast not one a human could pull off. Arthias put away his claymore before retrieving a Net Ball from behind his cape just as the cloth caught on fire and pointed the orb to the ground. In a burst of white light, the War God rose from his flaming doom a top of the light as it took a serpentine shape. The dispersal of the glow revealed a long blue snake-like Pokemon with a yellow belly, two blue barbels hanging from its face, and four three-pronged fins going down its back. After putting out the fires on his cape, Arthias rested his hand on the trident shaped crest on the creature's face that gave its red eyes a look of perminant rage. The Gyarados opened its gapping mouth with a loud roar showing off its rows of sharp fangs.

"Aden!" Arthias shouted from the head of his Gyarados. "You said you hated Pokemon. What a fitting end it will be for you to be killed by one! A Water-type no less to counter your affinity for fire!" he jeered with a gratifying smirk. Arthias tightened his grip on the Atrocious Pokemon's headcrest in preparation for his next command.

"Rock Smash!" ordered the warrior. Gyarados roared as it dove to attack Aden head on. As Arthias had anticipated, the Odian jumped out of the way but it didn't matter, he wasn't the target. The twenty foot serpent crashed through several of the Stealth Rocks that had blocked off the harbor landing head first into the water. Gyarados only serviced its head so that its trainer could breathe and give the next command. Out here Arthias could toy with his opponent if he wanted to knowing that there was nothing a fire user could do when his target was surrounded by water. However, the War God had learned that it was best not to underestimate an enemy, especially one that had control over the elements. It was best to finish this quickly.

"WaterFall!" commanded Arthias. Gyarados began undulating its body under the surface to stir up the water. It then jumped out of the harbor bring a wall of water with it. With most of the Stealth Rocks still firmly in place, there was no where for Aden to run as the towering mountain of H[sub]2[/sub]O came crashing down on him. Steam shot into the sky as the fires were put out and the magma hardened into new rock. Arthias waited patiently for the water to subside back to the harbor so that he could learn the status of his opponent.

Aden blinked when a burst of light came from within the whirlwind. Was Emily there somehow? No, that wouldn't make sense… All thoughts of the neutral Odian disappeared when a blue head rose up and the magma storm disappeared. A Gyarados â€˜stood' on the ground, body coiled up. Arthias was sitting on it's head, putting out of the flames on his cape as the creature roared, showing razor sharp fangs.

"Aden! You said you hated Pokemon. What a fitting end it will be for you to be killed by one! A Water-type no less to counter your affinity for fire!" Arthias smirked, before ordering the water serpent to use Rock Smash.

The creature roared once again, before speeding forwards with the intention of crushing Aden between it's jaws. Of course, Aden wasn't in the mood to die at the moment, so he threw himself out of the way so the Gyarados crashed into serval of the stone pillars and smashed them instead, allowing it access to the harbour. It submerged it's entire body, save for the top of it's head to allow Arthias to breathe.

Aden glared at the Gyarados and it's trainer, snarling under his breath. While he was certain he could kill off that Gyarados, but while it was in water, his attacks would be practically useless. And Arthias knew it. Still, Arthias wouldn't be resistant to fire…

"Waterfall!" Aden's opponent commanded.

In the few seconds before Gyarados attacked, Aden released his hold on the collar's power. It would only make the attack hurt even more than it would. Gyarados leapt out of the water, bringing a torrent of water with it, which crashed over Aden with devastating force. Aden raised his hands, trying to shield himself from the water attack. The water forced him to his knees, then he was lying flat against the ground, barely able to breathe. After what seemed to be an eternity, the water subsided and Aden slowly got up, eyes not leaving Arthias whom was waiting calmly to see the state he was in.

The Gyarados wasn't in the water, which was a good thing for it would make it a lot easier for Aden to attack it, and more importantly, attack Arthias. Aden focused again, fire coming less easily after being covered in water. The strange thing about this fire however, was the fact that it's colour slowly changed. Aden hurled the massive fire ball straight at the ground in front of the Gyarados, where it exploded and started several fires that seemed to have a mind of their own. With Arthias attention diverted, Aden ran to the tail of the Gyarados and quickly started climbing up the beast's back, his hands, feet and mouth catching fire. Aden didn't know if the Gyarados had noticed he was there, because it seemed busy with the multicoloured fire. Soon, Arthias came into sight. He turned, hearing Aden as the Odian began attacking with three punches, one to the face, to the throat, one to the groin. He then lashed out with a kick, before leaping back and expelling a breath of fire.

***

Avaril blinked as a red Lucario streaked past her, then one of the boys, then a Sandslash. What the hell were they doing? She'd been watching, wondering how long before a gap she could use to flee would appear. She watched as the boys and their Pokemon sprinted around the stone circles. Then, suddenly they all disappeared. Chansey looked as confused as Avaril felt, but the happiness Pokemon didn't stop giving Avaril energy.

"Chansey!" Chansey said, pointed in a direction.

Avaril followed the Pokemon's hand and saw two of the stone pillars had been destroyed. Relief filled Avaril, it looked like the perfect place to disappear.

"Come on." Avaril whispered to her Pokemon.

The two crept towards the opening, keeping one eye on the fight at all times. When they'd gotten closer to the opening, Avaril spotted a hole in the ground, with some words scrawled into the dirt beside it.

"It's too dangerous to stay here, so we had to flee. If you are able to, meet us at the Pokemon Centre, we will wait there until tomorrow morning." It read.

That was probably from the boys, and Avaril had a funny feeling that if people like Aden were running around Snowpoint, they would probably be in the Pokemon Centre as well. It didn't need to be said. Avaril climbed in after returning Chansey to her Pokeball and crawled through the hole, trying not to inhale anything. She tried to make the journey as quick as possible; small spaces made Avaril nervous and fearful.

Luckily, it wasn't far to the surface. Avaril sighed in relief when she was out of the hole. She scanned the ground, searching for footprints. She spotted them and sprinted off, following footprints which she hoped belonged to the boys.

Arthias smirked at the sight of Aden getting up after the torrential attack. His endurance was commendable. Hell, even after getting drenched the Odian was still capable of producing a flame. Without a word, Aden fired his latest fireball which just barely missed Gyarados exploding on the ground just in front of it. The strange thing was how the flame whisped in every direction changing colors from orange to red to purple to blue to green, et cetera. It was like the fire was possessed by a demon.

"Put that out with Hydro Pump now!" commanded Arthias. The way the flames danced and changed made it very hard to pinpoint his enemy's exact location. The warrior was sure this was some sort of distraction, but he couldn't tell what Aden had planned for it.

While Gyarados spewed gallons of water to put out the blaze, Arthias heard furious grunts coming from behind. He turned around just in time to see his opponent engulfed in his own inferno sending a flaming fist in his direction. Before the warrior could react, he was knocked senseless by punches to his face, throat and groin followed by a spin kick which knocked him off balance, and a flamethrower with enough intensity to send him falling fifteen feet off of the head of his own Pokemon.

The sound of shattering metal could be heard as Arthias crashed to the ground and the plate on his right shoulder smashed to pieces. The warrior weakly staggered back to his feet spitting a mouth full of blood as he did. He stared vehemently at the head of his Gyarados where Aden still stood. The War God's vision was slightly skewed, not from dizziness from the Odian's assault on him, but because one of the lenses on his glasses was shattered causing him to see the world in both its natural color and the red tint of the lens.

Arthias casually removed his glasses and smashed the ruined eyewear in his hands. They had been his favorite pair too. Both elation and hatred filled the warrior's body. Aden was without a doubt a worthy opponent, one who had given Arthias a thrilling battle he would always remember. The Odian had set the bar to a new level future opponents will be measured by. However it was that same power that made Aden a threat that Arthias was determined to eliminate. His one advantage came in that the Odian was still on his Gyarados. All it would take was one simple movement and it would be all over.

"Gyarados! Toss that fool into the air and catch him in your mouth! Just don't swallow!" Arthias ordered. The sea monster jerked its from side to side and up and down to force Aden off. Once the Fire User had been successfully thrown to the sky, the Atrocious Pokemon snatched its prey from his freefall in its massive jaws. The reason Arthias had wanted to avoid his Gyarados swallowing Aden was for the simple reason that if the Odian didn't die right away, he could destroy the serpent from the inside out. This way, Aden's fate was all but sealed.

"Now finish him with Hyper Beam!" Arthias commanded victoriously. Provided Aden survived this, he was more of a demon than Arthias. Energy began welling up inside Gyarados's mouth ready to blast away the Odian.

On the way to the Pokemon Center, the two boys made sure to hide their Pokemon, in case another Odian was nearby. Zack hoped that the girl had been able to make it out. He didn't like leaving her, but they didn't have much of a choice. Eventually the red-roofed building came into sight. The inside was full of Odian's, Zack could feel their eye's glaring at him, as if they were searching him for something, and they probably were.

The nurse stared at them forlornly, before saying, "Can I help you?"
"I need three rooms for the night," Tony grinned.
"Of course, and do you have any Pokemon in need of treatment?"
"No ma'am."

Tony quickly paid for the rooms, and received three keys. For rooms eighteen, nineteen, and twenty.

Tony handed her the key for room eighteen, saying, "Actually I was hoping you could hold onto this one for my friend, a girl by the name of Avaril Segar."
The nurse nodded, "Of course."

With that, the Commander entered his room, Zack heard the door lock behind him. After a moment he entered his own room. It was rather drab, a single bed and a nightstand, along with a small table and chair. Sighing, Zack left his pack on the table, and collapsed on the bed. It was only Six o'clock, but he was exhausted, and sleep came quickly.

Emily looked angrily at the Odian grunts who'd accompanied her to the Pokemon Centre. They were only here because her brother had insisted that they'd come, saying that some of the new recruits had escaped from the ship. It made her pout from just thinking about it. She was allowed to go have an epic fight with Regigigas, but wasn't allowed to walk to the Pokemon Centre alone because a couple of trainers — even in her thoughts she sneered the word — were running around? It wasn't fair.

She turned and walked into the room made to heal Pokemon and smiled, looking at the unconscious and bound Nurse Joy. Focusing only on the nurse, Emily filled her body with power from the collar then let her body warp, features shirking, growing, changing colour until she was the nurse's identical twin. With another grin, she turned the face the Odian who was guarding Nurse Joy.

"Remember. Don't kill her until I say so okay?"

The male Odian nodded sadly, clearly wanting to kill Joy but not wanting to disobey either. He knew what would happen if he disobeyed. Emily took her place at the counter, just in time as well because two boys entered, no Pokemon in sight. Obviously, they'd found out what their machines did. The two eyed the grunt's uneasily but made no move to attack. That was good.

Emily pretended to study them, as if searching for any hidden weapons before asking. "Can I help you?"

"I need three rooms for the night." The tall, sickly looking one grinned at her. Wait, three rooms?

"Of course, and do you have any Pokemon in need of treatment?"

"No ma'am." Damn, no Pokemon she could kill, not yet anyway.

The tall boy gave her enough money for the rooms and in return Emily gave him the keys to three rooms, but he pressed one back into her hands, saying that that key was for a friend of his. Ahh, there was a third… The two boys then proceeded upstairs, talking to each other. Fools. They had no sense of caution. Emily waited until the two were in their rooms before turning and whispering furiously to the grunts.

"Now yet out of here. You were so lucky that those two were idiots, otherwise after I'd killed them, I would have had to kill all of you as well!"

One, a short young female answered shakily. "But Master Irvin said…"

"I don't care what my brother said! Get out of here! Now!" Emily managed not to yell loudly, a white sphere forming between her hands.

The grunts took one look at the sphere in her hands before turning and fleeing like the cowards they were. Emily relaxed after the grunts Irvin had sent had fled, the comet punch fading. She then settled back and waited.

***

Aden smiled as Arthias fell to the ground. It became even wider as a shattering sound filled the air. Hopefully that was his skull. Aden peered over the Gyarados's head, looking for his opponent. Ah, there he was, getting weakly to his feet, spitting blood. Pity, it appeared that the shattering sound had come from his armour, not his bones. Aden focused again as Arthias crushed his glasses between his hands, summoning fire. He smiled, remembering the first time he'd seen this move being used, and the aftermath — a Wailord's corpse, any remaining bones/flesh black, the rest ash.

"Gyarados! Toss that fool into the air and catch him in your mouth! Just don't swallow!" Arthias cried.

Aden's eyes widened in alarm: he'd forgotten to get off the god damn Gyarados! The sea serpent flung Aden into the air, who desperately tried to get out of the way of the Pokemon's jaws. He screamed as the Gyarados's teeth went right through his upper legs. He barely heard Arthias give the order for Gyarados to use Hyper Beam. But he felt heat gather behind him, only not the type he loved, not heat belonging to fire. He summoned up the collars power and fire swallowed his entire body. The fire attacked the Gyarados's flesh, but the creature refused to let go. The fire lessened the pain too. In desperation, Aden flung flame after flame at the Gyarados, but it did nothing.

"Shit." Aden said as he saw Arthias's grin become triumphant.

The Hyper Beam incinerated Aden's flesh, destroying everything save for his collar which fell to the ground, the only thing of the Odian remaining.

***

Avaril ran through the night, stopping in front of Pokemon Centre. To her surprise, the lights were on and it appeared to be in perfect condition. There were numerous footprints by the door, all heading out as if there had been a scramble to get out. She rose, knowing only an idiot would go through the front door. So, she ran around the side and peered through the first window. Three Odians were inside, talking to a Nurse Joy who had a cruel smile on her face. She kept on moving, and on the 5th window, she spotted the sickly looking boy sit down on his bed. Avaril began tapping on his window, making him look up and open the window for her. He looked a little surprised. Avaril wasted no time.

"I have a very bad feeling about this place. It's a healing place for Pokemon, and from what I've seen, the Odian's don't appear to like Pokemon that much. This centre is in perfect condition as far as I know, and I saw three Odians talking to the Nurse." She explained to him, wondering if he'd noticed what she had.

Tony sat, waiting for the girl to appear, eventually he heard a taping on his window. He looked out, and was surprised to see the girl. He hurried over to the window, and opened it.

"I have a very bad feeling about this place. It's a healing place for Pokemon, and from what I've seen, the Odian's don't appear to like Pokemon that much. This center is in perfect condition as far as I know, and I saw three Odians talking to the Nurse."

Tony nodded, "yeah, I noticed a few Odians here myself, I told them I didn't have Pokemon. I think this place was meant to be a trap, trainers who come here to have their Pokemon healed instead are pressed into service and have their Pokemon killed. Allow me to get Zack, and we will leave this place."

He left his room, knocking on his friend's door. When Zack didn't answer, Tony called out Jake, and had him Force Palm the door open, nearly sending it off its hinges.

Zack looked up sleepily, "Whodat?"
Time to go Zack," he called.

Tony recalled Jake, and grabbed Zack, pulling him out of the bed. He made sure the young trainer grabbed his pack before leading him back to his room, shutting both doors behind him. Hopefully it looked like nothing had happened. The two of them climbed out the window, dropping down next to the girl.

"You lose Odian!" Arthias shouted delightedly. Aden engulfed his body in fire and attacked Gyarados wildly but it was all for nothing. The moment the Atrocious Pokemon opened its mouth to release the Hyper Beam, the battle was over. Aden was consumed by the blast and turned to ash. The only thing left was that strange collar he had been wearing which fell to the now snowless ground.

"At last..." the warrior sighed as he fell onto his back from exhaustion. It had been a long time since someone pushed his abilities to their upper limit. Arthias lied on the ground staring up at the night sky resting his battered body. As the warrior reflected on his latest battle, he wondered how many more Odians there were and how strong the remaining ones were. Based on the difference in power, the ones that had been accompanying Aden were weak disposable grunts.

Rising back to his feet, Arthias stared at his red claymore. "It will be a long time, before my sword is complete." he muttered metaphorically referring to his own abilities. The War God looked at his Gyarados which had several burns around its mouth from the struggle, but at least this one had lived. The last thing Arthias needed was another broken weapon. Speaking of which...

The warrior walked over to the corpse of his fallen Aggron. Arthias gazed at the dead Pokemon emotionlessly as he dropped its Ultra Ball in front of it. To him it was just another casualty of war that had served its purpose. He then lifted his sword and smashed the Ultra Ball to sever all ties with the Aggron. Finally, Arthias returned his sea serpent to its Net Ball.

The last thing Arthias did before leaving the battlefield was retrieve the collar Aden had so proudly worn. The warrior had a feeling this was the source of the Odian's power. Regardless, it survived Gyarados's Hyper Beam so it had to poses some strength. If Arthias could tap into that power, then perhaps he could fight the remaining Odians on equal footing.

Until that next confrontation, the warrior needed his rest to recover his strength. He walked through one of the opening created in the Stealth Rock cage over the course of the battle to find a safe place to recuperate.

Avaril blinked. The Magma's were planing on following her? Well, it was their choice.

"Well…" she said slowly. "We need to tell someone — Cynthia for example — about what's going on here. And we need to find anyone who is free and isn't an Odian. That includes that Arthias guy."

She couldn't say she liked the idea of going to find the maniac with the sword, but he seemed to have enough experience in fighting both with Pokemon and without to hold his own against the stronger Odians, like Aden. That's if he was still alive... Avaril sighed, then turned around and started to walk reluctantly back towards the battlefield. She stopped suddenly and turned to face the boys again.

"I never did catch your names." She said, an unspoken question in her voice.

Both boys gave their names. Tony was the sickly looking one who appeared to be extremely bold and also in charge. Zach was the quieter one, or that was how it appeared to Avaril. She gave her name as well, in case the two didn't know, then set off into the night, wincing at cold. Her clothes were still damp from her swim earlier, but the Shiver Camp was a lot colder than it was here, so she was used to it.

The stone pillars came into sight quickly. No one spoke during the walk, Avaril because she was trying to think of something to say to Arthias. He seemed like the kind of person who was used to being alone and taking no one's suggestions. If he was like that then persuading him to come along would be difficult. She placed her hand on one of the stone pillars absentmindedly, before turning to follow her footprints back to the hole. Upon reaching it, they discovered that several of the pillars had been destroyed from an attack of some sort. Everything was quiet, so Avaril guessed that the fight was over. But who was the victor?

There was no snow in the now silent arena. Rock that was once magma and fissures covered the arena. Ash blew around in the breeze, making Avaril cough. The dead Aggron lay on the far side of the arena. Was that a smashed Ultra ball in front of the corspe? It didn't matter. There was no sign of life in the arena.

"Maybe the winner left already…" Avaril said, scanning the area with her green eyes.

Zach shook his head and pointed at something. Avaril had to move her position to see what he pointed at, but as soon as she did a man came into view. Judging by the fact that he was hardly visible because of the black clothes he was wearing and the dark background, this was Arthias. She didn't know if he knew they were there or not, but that didn't matter that much, unless he though he was about to be attacked.

"Arthias!" Avaril called out to him when she had crossed half the distance between them.

Yup, that was definitely him, black armour, blood stained sword, cold green eyes. She wondered where his glasses were. After identifying him, she began to take in the details. His right shoulder was a mess, the plate that protected it had shattered. His black cape was scorched, parts missing. He appeared to have a few other burns as well. And he held a black collar like machine thing, green lights blinking on it. The appearance of the machine made Avaril double take. Wasn't that what Aden had worn?

"Arthias." She said, drawing herself up, trying to appear as nervous as she felt. "I think it would be a good idea to leave this place and tell the government or something about what we've seen. Zach and Tony are coming." She incanted to the boys. "Do you want to come as well?"

As Arthias trudged through the snow, he thought he had heard someone shout his name. The voice sounded female. Without stopping, the warrior turned his head to see who could possibly know his name that wasn't already dead. Running after him while keeping a safe distance was that woman he had dragged out of the harbor and the two clowns from Team Magma. Did I not warn them that if I ever saw them again I would kill them? Arthias wondered.

"Arthias. I think it would be a good idea to leave this place and tell the government or something about what we've seen. Zack and Tony are coming. Do you want to come as well?" asked the girl nervously. That got his attention. Arthias stopped allowing those maggots to catch up, though they still maintained their distance from him. It was a smart move on their part even if the smarter move would have been to stay away period. The warrior smirked and began chuckling at their claim.

"How absolutely laughable!" he scoffed. "You want to get the government involved? Do you think you have time to sit around while a bunch of incompetent bureaucrats and politicians argue? By the time those fools make a decision, the Odians would have accomplished what ever it is they came to do! Snowpoint already belongs to them, and do you see the government getting involved?" Arthias interrogated. "I do not require assistance from those fools, I have already killed one Odian on my own!" He lifted up his trophy, Aden's collar, as verification of his triumph. "I would love to see some lowly politician perform the same task within the same time frame."

During his monologue Arthias came to a more interesting conclusion then killing these three. In fact, he had two options for them.

"Listen, I have a proposition for you three. I give you two choices: Crawl to your government and beg for their help. By the time you get it, I will have killed all of the Odians which would have wasted your time and theirs. Your second choice is to become my soldiers and fight the Odians without the aid of the government. As you all are most likely inexperienced in the art of war, I will be your commander."

They followed the girl back down to the harbor, Zack didn't think it was a good idea, but Tony wanted to see how it played out. She hadn't told them what she wanted to do, but neither of the were surprised when she wanted to go to the Sinnoh Government for help. The man laughed at the idea, and Zack was sure on the inside Tony did as well. Then the man gave them two options. Now it was Tony's turn to go into a monologue.

"I have to agree with the Arthias, the government is a bad idea. Do you really think that they would listen to a little girl, two criminals, and a man trapped in the sixteenth century? And Arthias, I am going to have to say no to both of your options. Zack and I are here on a mission. We do not have time to waste playing with a bunch of Pokemon murderers. If they are really a problem, then let Team Galactic deal with them. I've nearly lost one of my Pokemon to them, and I do not want to risk another. I see your Aggron laying over there, Arthias, what a waste of a life. I also saw how you stared at my Lucario. If anything, you respect it, at least for its color. You could never have a Lucario, because you don't care about your Pokemon, and they don't care about you."

With that Tony turned, and walked off. Zack didn't know if Tony was right about any of that. He didn't need to be, as long as it affected the man. It was another ploy to get power from the man. Zack hurried to catch up with his friend. He called out his Porygon, and had it use protect, to stop any retaliations the man might do. Arthias and Avaril, let them figure out the solution to their own problems. Zack and Tony needed to find their missing comrades.

Avaril wasn't particularly fazed at Arthias insults about her idea. It was true that the government would just argue until the danger was upon them. But someone needed to know. Tong seemed to have a good idea about what he was going to do, answering instantly, almost without thinking or consulting Zack. The start of his speech made sense to Avaril, but the sudden jump of topics confused her slightly. After than, Tony quickly left, Zack dwelling for only a moment later.

Avaril scanned the area, searching for anyone in a black and gold uniform. When she was satisfied, she released Suku and explained the situation to him. The Lucario was silent for a moment then answered.

He said grimly.

Avaril's eyes widened. That wasn't what she'd been expecting. He sensed her confusion and explained why.

"Then why don't we just stay here?" Avaril asked, not wanting to see the logic in staying with the madman.

Both Pokemon and trainer were silent for a moment.

"I don't like it."

Avaril sighed and ran her hands through her hair before turning to Arthias. "We'll come."

***

Emily impatiently tapped her finger on the desk, before rising and heading upstairs. The girl hadn't turned up and she was getting impatient. Might as well kill the boys then. She moved quietly up to the door which one of the boys had been sleeping in. It was locked. Well that was no problem. Emily focused and let the power run through her body, filling her completely. Once she had enough power, she ripped the door of it's hinges and threw it down the hallway. She moved at inhuman speed into the room to find it was empty. The window was slightly open as well. Cursing, she moved to the next room. It was empty as well.

She ran down to the doors and crashed into the insanely tall thin man who'd just entered. His deep blue eyes widened in shock, then became amused upon seeing the collar around Emily's neck. Irvin embraced his little sister, then moved back, pulling his blue hair back into a ponytail.

"Where are you running off to Emily?" He asked. "You can't go hunting Pokemon just now."

Emily sighed, and returned her body to its usual form. "A couple of trainers are running around and I mean to kill them."

"Yepa wants to hang around for a while, to make sure that the grunts can handle everything. She's gathered quite an array of weapons. They'll get your trainers. Besides, we're supposed to be leaving. Come on, they're waiting."

Emily sighed again, then made her way to the former Snowpoint Gym with her brother. 14 of the inner circle were there, waiting. Dean, golden eyed and haired, frowned.

"Where's Aden?" He asked, scanning the circle.

Nobody moved, or spoke. Dean sighed.

"Well, we can't wait any more for him. Each of you know where you have to go. When you've finished with the city, move onto the surrounding area. Each of you should take a least a squad of grunts with you." Dean turned, seeming ready to leave, then added. "Oh, and enjoy yourselves." He and Leanne walked off in the same direction.

Slowly, the circle split. Seeing Yepa starting to leave, Emily raced up to her. "Yepa, there's a few trainers wandering around. They won't be able to go far, but you should take them down anyway."

Yepa nodded, then continued on her way as Irvin came up and put a hand on Emily's shoulder.

"I'll be seeing you sis. Enjoy yourself!" He said, then moved away.

"Have fun in Pastoria!" She yelled in response, before heading off to gather some grunts and then start the journey to the Elite Four.

The sickly Team Magma child answered Arthias with a tangent of nonsense before walking off with the other boy staying behind for only a moment, then he too left as he was pulled along by his invisible leash. It was pretty obvious that the two were all talk as they once again had their digital pet put up a protective shield.

"The weaker they are, the louder they bark." Arthias said to the Magmas. It didn't matter if they heard him or not, the warrior was done wasting words on them. "And what is your choice?" he asked the girl who was talking it over with her Lucario.

"We'll come." she answered sounding unsure of the decision.

"Very well then." Arthias said looking his new cadet over to judge what kind of shape she was in. He noticed that she was wearing the same clothes as when he dragged her out of the water and he highly doubted that they'd had a chance to dry out. One thing that did grab his attention was that her bullet wound had somehow been healed. "First we need to find shelter. I hate to admit it, but my fight with Aden took a lot out of me and I need to regain my strength. When we find a place you are to change out of those wet clothes. You are worthless to me if you get hypothermia. Then you will heal me in the same way you healed yourself." instructed the warrior.

Arthias looked around deciding which way to go. Snowpoint City was under enemy command, so it was unwise to take refuge here. A rule of war is to never leave oneself vulnerable in enemy territory. The closest accessable place was Lake Acuity, but for all he knew, the Legendary Lake Guardian would be the next target for the Odians. He then came to a reasonable conclusion. With any luck, the Odians were done with Snowpoint Temple having already killed Regigigas, so they should have no reason to go there. Even if they did, Arthias was confident that he and his new recruit could hide out in the lower levels.

"We will make Snowpoint Temple our stronghold for now." declared the War God grabbing a Pokeball from behind his torn cape and summoning his Metagross in a burst of white light. "This will make for fewer tracks for the Odians to follow. Now call back your Lucario. I refuse to carry him too." Arthias commanded his soldier who's name he still did not know. (Slight auto coming) Once she did as told, Arthias scooped the girl up in his arms and held her like a baby as there was only room for him to stand on the Iron Leg Pokemon's back. The warrior didn't know if she had any Flying-types of her own, but the less targets in the air the less noticeable they would be. After Arthias was in place on his Pokemon, Metagross took off for the temple.

The flight to the temple was silent while Arthias kept a vigilant watch on the world below. His instinct to get up high was proven correct as he watched people dressed in black and gold mobilizing throughout the city. Luckily there was no one anywhere near Snowpoint Temple that would see or hear them as they landed or entered. Metagross hovered just above the temple entrance so as not to leave any prints at the door. Arthias jumped off of his Pokemon and subsequently dropped his cadet.

"Come along." he told her after recalling Metagross not even waiting for the hapless recruit to get up. The warrior entered the temple carefully investigating to make sure that there were no Odians roaming about as he looked for a way to get to the lower levels.

There was no sign of whether Arthias was pleased or not with their decision to join his search-and-destroy mission. Nothing changed in his eyes, not a muscle moved in his face or body at all. It was quite disturbing in it's own, strange way.

"Very well then. First we need to find shelter. I hate to admit it, but my fight with Aden took a lot out of me and I need to regain my strength. When we find a place you are to change out of those wet clothes. You are worthless to me if you get hypothermia. Then you will heal me in the same way you healed yourself." He commanded.

Avaril grabbed her arm in alarm, at the mention of healing. The bullet was still in her body, she could feel it. If the added strength from helping hand had somehow healed it, then getting the bullet out would be a lot harder then if the wound was open. She ran her fingers over it, ignoring the blood that hadn't been washed away. Her skin had knitted over the wound, so Avaril swore under her breath. It wasn't impossible to fix though. Getting some dry clothes would be a problem. All of Avaril's clothing save for the ones she was wearing were on the ship, which was probably in the control of the Odians now. Maybe she could grab some clothes on the way to wherever they were going. The whole â€˜you are worthless to me' thing was more than just a little bit annoying, but it wasn't anything Avaril hadn't been expecting.

"We will make Snowpoint Temple our stronghold for now." Arthias commanded while releasing a Metagross. "This will make for fewer tracks for the Odians to follow. Now call back your Lucario. I refuse to carry him too."

Avaril eyed the Metagross cautiously, and wondered how on earth both of them were going to fit on it's â€˜head' as she brought out Suku's Pokeball and withdrew him, pretending not to notice the Lucario's ill-contained look of worry. Having done that, Avaril walked towards the Metagross, still concerned about the lack of space. Without warning, Arthias scooped the red head up in his arms, holding her in the way you would hold a baby or a young child. Instinct said that she should fight him off, but she ignored it, knowing that this was his solution to the lack of space on his floating steel Pokemon. Still, that didn't mean it wasn't humiliating.

Avaril remained silent during the flight through the air, looking out to sea. A few boats were heading away from the harbour, aiming for the open seas. She had a pretty good hunch about who was aboard them, but it might just be people who'd escaped notice fleeing. Arthias also scanned the area, searching for a sign that they'd been spotted. Her thoughts began to wander, and she found herself wondering what Zach and Tony were going to do. For their sake she hoped that they wouldn't run into any Odians.

It didn't take long to reach the temple, a tall structure made of grey stone. Statues of humanoid Pokemon sat near the entrance, on the walls and in the surrounding area. Metagross hovered close to the ground, allowing Arthias to jump off his Pokemon. As soon as he was on the ground, he dropped Avaril on the ground. With such a short fall, there was no room for landing properly, so she landed flat on her back.

"Come along." Arthias said, putting a Pokeball in it's correct place as he walked into the temple.

Avaril followed him through the temple, which was as silent and as empty as a tomb. There was no light anywhere, so it was difficult to see what the temple really looked like. Both walked in silence for quite a while, until the reached a large chamber, complete with flickering torches on the walls. Avaril doubled taked upon seeing a the massive colourless body of a Pokemon, undistinguishable. On the ground, lay a corpse, blood covering it's white top. It looked vaguely female, and about Avaril's size. She grimaced, then hoisted the body over her shoulder and walked around a statue before putting the body on the ground. Candice's horror filled face stared up at her, so Avaril quickly averted her eyes.

Candice's white top was completely ruined; it was bloodstained and there was a gapping hole in the front that ran through both sides, with no skin/bone/tissue in between. However, the rest of her clothes appeared to be completely fine. So, Avaril quickly changed into Candice's clothes, covering the body with her old ones. She gathered up her Pokeballs then walked away from the corspe, rolling the too-long sleeves on the blue jacket as she went.

In two flashes of white light Chansey and Ariados appeared. She quickly explained about the bullet. Chansey nodded, happy to help. She drew out the needle that she always carried with her as Ariados spun some string to be used to stitch the wound together. In one quick movement, the long leg Pokemon swiped the skin covering the bullet open, it's eyes glowing pure white. From inside her skin, Avaril felt the bullet slowly move out of her body, knocking some flesh as it went. Ariados threw the bullet into the far wall when it was dislodged. Chansey leapt up, stitching the flesh back together with her needle. When she was finished, both Pokemon turned their attention to Arthias.

"What was that all about?" Zack asked once the others disappeared.
"Spur of the moment kinda stuff," Tony laughed.
"Well, I think you confused the girl, don't know about the guy though," Zack sighed.
"Eh, doesn't matter, we do this right, we never have to see them again," the older boy answered.

Zack nodded, an followed the Tony off to where ever the boy was taking him. Tony wouldn't say anything but "The homes of the missing members."

The building Tony took Zack to was fairly large, according to the older boy it was the home of John and Mary Thomson, two of the three spies Team Magma had in Snowpoint. The inside of the house was destroyed, In the living room laid the corpses of three Odians and a Camerupt. The Camerupt was colorless which appeared to mean it had been weakened, but even then, it had done its best to protect it's master, several bullet holes littered it's body, and the corpse of a fourth Odian was underneath. The destruction seemed to take two paths, which meant the two had split up. One led into the kitchen, where three more dead Odians lay. Two of them looked like they had been killed by a human, one was shot, the other had multiple stab wounds. They followed a trail of blood to the basement. Five more Odians, along with the colorless corpses of a Mightyena and Skarmory and a burned out husk.

"I think we know were one of our spies met their end," Tony sighed.
"Who ever they were, they sure killed a lot of Odians," Zack frowned.

Tony led them back to the living room, and they started after the second path. It led them up the stairs, where two more Odians lay dead. The hallway in the second floor had four more Odians, all dead. At the end of the hallway was the corpse of a Dusclops, colorless as well. Tony opened the door behind it, inside, two more Odians laid, as well as a colorless Sableye. A man was sit, back against the wall. He looked up at them, and recognized Tony.

"Commander, nice to see you," the man said between breaths.
"John, what happened?" Tony walked over to the man.
"We were approached by Odians, and when we refused them, they attacked us," he said, and moved his hand away from his stomach to reveal a bullet hole, "I was shot, so we separated, where is my wife?"
"Mary is dead, but she took down a lot of Odians before she went," Tony sighed.
"I see, I will join her soon," John sighed, "what about Kirk?"
"We haven't found Kirk yet," Tony frowned.
"He sent me a message, said the town was too dangerous, and that he was going to submit his final report and flee, but that was two days ago," the man said, "We were going to join him, but they came, and attacked."
"Okay, thanks John," Tony turned to leave.
"Wait, Commander, you have to get out of here, find Kirk if you must, but then you have to flee, or they will kill you," John called, then his life ended.

Zack followed Tony out of the building. The older boy pulled his PokeNav out of his pack, and called Tabitha, his direct superior.

"What?" the man on the screen growled.
"Report," Tony sighed, "Johnathan and Mary Thomson are dead, the status of James Kirk is unknown, we are heading to the Hospital now to locate him. We are also requesting back-up, the Odians are highly dangerous Pokemon Poachers."
"I see, back-up cannot be sent, Team Galactic would see it as an act of war," Tabitha replied, "Your mission still stands, find James Kirk, dead or alive, then get out."
"Yes sir," Tony answered, before turning off the PokeNav.
"To the Hospital we go," Zack sighed.

A weak draft coming from behind a smashed statue of a now indistinguishable Pokemon at the far wall of the entrance chamber alerted Arthias to a secret passage. He wrapped his fingers around the base of the statue and pulled it away using more effort than he usually would due to his tired muscles. Behind the stone remnant was a staircase leading to the lower levels. When he turned around to call his new subordinate over, he noted that while he had been searching, she had changed her clothes and called forth a Chansey and Ariados.

"Very good. Once we descend this stairwell, have Ariados use its web to move the statue back in place. It will be harder for our enemies to track us that way. After that, you will heal me." ordered the warrior. Without hesitation Arthias grabbed a torch from the wall before walking down the stairs.

The cool air was stale from isolation for who knows how many years. The stone steps spiralled down a narrow corridor making it so that trespassers had to walk single file of one another. At the base of the stairs was a long tunnel leading into a wide room large enough for both individuals to rest comfortable even with there Pokemon out. Arthias put the torch in a holster on the wall upon entering the chamber then slumped into a sitting position underneath it from fatigue.

Piece by piece the War God removed his armor, starting with his tattered cape, then the remaining shoulder pad, followed by his breast plate and gauntlets exposing the black tunic underneath. He hated making himself vulnerable, especially when there were others pressent, but if he wanted to be healed it was a necessary sacrifice. Besides, his claymore was never further than an arm's length away if he needed to defend himself.

Yepa moved easily though the deep snow, her eyes completely alert. Here and there, a gold and black dressed Grunt scurried around, some testing weapons, some gathering anything valuable they could find and others giving some of the new recruits an explanation on what was going to happen. The new recruits were uneasily fingering the firearms — the only weapon they could be trusted to use - in their belt's. More experienced members carried a whole array of weapons, from daggers to massive scythes. But this wasn't of importance at the moment, for up ahead, Yepa could see stone pillars, so very out of place.

She quickly found an opening near the water and gazed at the scene. There was no snow here, just cooled magma, fissures and the occasional flickering fire. Ashes were being scattered on the wind. Yepa had a very good idea of exactly what had happened here. Clearly, Aden's disappearance and the trainers running around were connected. Another scan of the area told her that Aden's collar wasn't here, so that must mean that he wasn't dead… unless it had been taken.

Yepa frowned, then started searching for footprint's leading away from the scene of battle. She soon found a set of two and instantly set off in pursuit, letting mist roll of her body as she ran thought the snow with ease. The trail soon lead to the house that had belonged to the Magma's. She knew because she'd been one of the one's who'd hunted down the Magma's. Three of them had been in the house, all in different spots. One had jumped out the window and fled, so naturally Yepa had chased him, cornering him quickly and sealing him within freezing ice. And it looked like the footprints were heading straight to the frozen Magma.

"On the trail are you Yepa?" A drawling voice asked.

Oh god please don't it be… Yepa thought as she spun around.

Sure enough, Scott was standing in the show arrogantly, wearing his usual acid green/purple suit. Out of all of the inner circle, Scott was the only one who hadn't been there from the start. He'd been a millionaire, living in Maville City when the inner circle had raided his place because they needed money for their experiments. Instead of being killed, he'd offered to join them, which had been accepted. Scott had been promoted because the previous owner of his collar, Elayne, had thought that the collar made her invincible and had gotten herself killed. Not that many of the inner circle were friendly with him. And Yepa was one of them.

"What do you want?" She demanded, glaring at him with enough force to freeze anyone in their tracks.

"My ride isn't ready yet, so I'm gonna hang with you now. So if we're hunting, then let's get hunting." He declared, making a dramatic movement with his hands.

Yepa turned and ran again, not looking to see if Scott could keep up with her. Soon, two figures came into sight, both appearing to be boys. They'd stopped right in front of the frozen Magma. In one easy movement, Yepa sent a beam of beautiful lights in their direction, which hit the frozen Magma and caused corpse to shatter. Deadly shards of ice rained down on the two boys as Scott yawned loudly. Clearly, he thought the two would be a pushover. And frankly, so did Yepa.

***

Clearly, Arthias wasn't ready to be healed yet, for he gave out some more orders before disappearing down a tunnel he'd found. Avaril watched him irritably for a moment before beconing to Chansey and Ariados to follow her into the tunnel, which the Long Leg Pokemon sealed before they headed down the small, winding staircase, which lead to a long thin corridor and ending in a large room, Arthias was already there, slumped against the wall, removing the last bit of armor from his body.

"Now heal!" Arthias commanded as soon as her saw her.

He'd spoken to Avaril, however the command wasn't for her, not really. Chansey happily bounced up to the man and was followed by a more reluctant Ariados. The two Pokemon quickly started working, Ariados using Psychic to remove shards of the broken shoulder plate from Arthias's body, while Chansey waved her bell in the air to get rid of any burns Arthias might have before using her needle to stick various wounds together with the silk Ariados provided. Finally, Chansey offered her hand to Arthias to give him an energy boost. After that was done, both Ariados and Chansey were withdrawn.

Out of nowhere, Avaril realized that Arthias didn't know her name. Well he might, but that was only if he'd heard it when she'd yelled it out in the battle. So, she quickly introduced herself — knowing that he probably didn't care — then waited, to see if there was anything he had in mind to do.

They got a few yards before coming over the frozen corpse of a man in a Magma outfit.

"Is this Dr. Kirk?" Zack asked.
"No, its a decoy," Tony sighed, "in case of an attack on our spies by Team Galactic, a decoy was set up, the decoy was the closest comrade of the spies, so that, if they were ever found, the decoy would distract, while the real spies fled. Obviously, it didn't work."

On the ground a few feet from the frozen man was a pistol. Tony picked it up, and pulled the clip out. It was fully loaded, the man had been killed before he could get off a single shot. Suddenly, the frozen corpse shattered, raining ice down on the two boys. Zack called out Rom, and had it use Protect, stopping the larger shards from getting to them. That didn't stop them from getting cut up by the attacks.

"Get to the Hospital, I'll be right behind you!" Tony shouted to the younger boy.

Zack nodded, before recalling Rom and taking off. Tony fired off three shots at the two Odians, before running in different direction.

The Chansey was all too willing to do as the warrior requested, while the Ariados was a bit more cautious for obvious reasons. Arthias felt a slight twinge as shards of his armor were pulled from the wound on his shoulder, but he remained mostly inexpressive toward the pain. He was, for the most part, used to the more insignificant injuries he received in battle. Also the gentle ring of Chansey's bell was restoring his singed flesh slightly lessening any pain felt but the metal fragments.

When that was done, the Egg Pokemon used Ariados silk and a needle she pulled from her pouch to stitch up his shoulder as most of the War God's other open wounds were just minor scrapes that either disappeared with Heal Bell or would be gone by the next morning. After that Chansey offered her hand to Arthias which he accepted only because he knew this would be the final act of his restoration process. Within seconds the warrior felt his every cell in his entire body revitalize as if his fight with Aden hadn't occurred at all.

"My strength returns." said Arthias popping his biceps to relieve the tention built up in them. He got to his feet tilting his neck side to side to making a cracking sound.

The girl recalled her Pokemon then reintroduced herself as Avaril Segar a few seconds later. The name was familiar to Arthias leaving him momentarily puzzled as to where he had heard it before. He quickly remembered how she mindlessly shouted it during the fight earlier. The War God figured it would be easier to call his subordinate by her actual name rather than constantly referring to her as 'You' or 'Woman' the whole time, especially once combat started.

"Avaril." the warrior addressed trying the name out. "Do you have any ideas what this collar does?" he questioned holding up the glowing prize he collected from his fallen foe. If she didn't know the collar's secret, then the only choice Arthias would have was to test it out himself by putting it on.

(So Aura, you can pm with details of the collar or I can let you temporarily auto Arthias if/when he tries it on)

The healing worked perfectly. Arthias looked as if he'd never been in the fight with Aden. Personally, Avaril liked him better when he was weak. If that was even possible.

"Avaril, Do you have any ideas what this collar does?" Arthias asked, holding up the black collar that Aden had worn.

It was made of wires and glowing red lights underneath a black slightly transparent looking material which was clearly made to withstand anything thrown at it, judging by the way there wasn't a scratch on its exterior. As for what it did… well it's appearance and the fact that it hadn't been destroyed clearly said it was important and Avaril had a funny feeling that this was where Aden's ability to control fire came from but on the other hand it could be something that he'd found and worn because he liked it. The grunts certainly wore nothing like it…

Avaril opened her mouth to say exactly what she thought as a sounded like a bomb went off overhead, causing parts of the ancient stone ceiling to crumble in. Avaril threw herself out of the way of some falling stone bricks to avoid being crushed. Then, almost as soon as the sound had come, it was gone again and all was silent.

***

Yepa opened herself to the freezing cold power that was her collar as an explosion ripped through the air, drawing both her and Scott's attention away from the fleeing trainers long enough for them both to disappear. Scott swore and turned to go back after one of the trainers but Yepa stopped him with a hand.

"Don't bother following them. They won't get far once I'm done. We need to find out what happened."

Scott sighed but followed Yepa anyway, towards where the explosion had come from. They soon found themselves looking at the Snowpoint Temple, the main and only entrance covered with stone blocks which appeared to have fallen from a large explosion. Other parts of the temple had similar amounts of damage. In front of it was a grunt who still hadn't seen the two of them.

As Yepa got closer, it became apparent that the grunt was only new, having a gun and a small knife strapped onto her belt. She had the kind of look on her face that made her seem rather pleased with herself, and hoping the higher ups would agree with her.

"Did you do this grunt?" Scott demanded, gesturing with one hand towards the temple.

"Yes sir!" The grunt said cheerfully. "I saw a Pokemon and some people enter, so I blew up the entrance to trap them inside!"

Yepa wanted to kill the idiot where she stood. Blowing up the entrance was practically announcing their presence, and it didn't block any way out, because there was now very large holes in the roof, easy to escape out of. Clearly, Scott was thinking the same kind of thing, for he drew a knife out seemingly out of nowhere and cut the grunt's throat before she could even register what had happened. Yepa sighed. So hasty…

"We should send some people in to check the place out. Some people with more sense than she had." Scott said, gesturing the body in front of the two of them.

"Yes. About 5, skilled at staying unseen would be perfect." Yepa said as Scott took out his mobile, to gather the required grunts. "Oh and gather some good fighters, just in case."

Yepa walked away from where Scott was yabbering into his phone and focused, summoning the power of her collar. Almost instantly, the weather started to change. Clouds began to gather and freezing winds whipped around the area. The moisture in the air froze and movements later it was snowing, creating a howling blizzard large enough to contain all of Snowpoint.

"Those two trainers won't get far." She murmured aloud. "They would be idiots to leave by water. Going by air in this wind would mean death. And they won't be able to survive the cold for long."

Just as Avaril was about to respond to Arthias, she was quickly interupted by an explosion overhead that rocked the entire temple and sent chunks of ancient rocks and debris falling toward them. The warrior grabbed his claymore before rolling out of the way to avoid one of may falling rocks.

"Damn! We've been found!" yelled Arthias when the smoke cleared as he quickly gathered his armor. The battle with Aden had taught the War God that the Odians could hit hard so it would be foolhardy to rush into battle unprepared and without protection. The last thing Arthias put on was the collar. He was still unsure of what it did, but now was not the time for what ifs. If this was truly the source of the Odian's power, them it would become the warrior's power as well.

Arthias suddenly felt a wave of heat course through his body starting at his neck then working its way down into his torso, arms, legs, hands, fingers, feet, and toes, and up into his head as well. At first Arthias felt like he was on fire from the inside, but his body gradually got used to it. But how did it work?

The War God held his arm out with his hand palm up and concentrated. He thought about the fiery power den was able to control. It seemed so natural to the Odian. Arthias only had seconds to do the same, or at the very least mangable. At last, a small orange flame ignited in his hand. It would take some time to control this new power, but this was a good start. The warrior closed his hand cancelling out the flame.

"Come. We have have Odians to find." commanded Arthias as he picked up his sword and walked to the stairs which had miraculously not been buried.

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